If you have adequate rhizomes from a variety when dividing, the answer is normally yes. Hovever, if the plant has produced limited increase, and you want as many new plants as possible, pot up the old rhizome in mix with lots of sand. I use a potting mix of about 50/50 sand and spaghnum peat moss. This is about 6 or 7 weeks growth. Most of you folks already know this, but I thought it might be helpful to newbies.
Helpful to me=) I have some that look like that and the mother is looking a bit sad but the increases are looking much like your photo--seemed a bit of a risk to remove them from the mother but I wasn't sure. Maybe next season when the increases have formed "proper" rhizomes, right?
You're right, next season these should be good sized rhizomes, and it's better to leave the tiny increases attached to the mother.
Dan
That was VERY helpful to me as well!! Thanks to this forum and the daylily forum I am already planning my new iris and daylily bed. ;)
Sitting here marking off the days until the new growing season,
Debby
I divided a big patch of no name white iris in August. I threw all the old mother rhizomes in a big pile meaning to go back later and dispose of them (which I never got around to). Well yesterday I noticed lots of green fans coming out of the pile. New baby iris had formed and they had even rooted themselves into the hard ground. I dug up some and replanted them and they had nice roots. You Don't find many other plants that would survive in the hot sun on top of the ground and make new plants!!
zac--I appreciate the info too. I never had room for irises at my other house (usual subdivision size yard). Now I have lots of room so I'm trying to establish a couple of beds in outer areas of the yard where they have room to spread to their hearts content. I only have a few plants so far but I hope to add lots more. I still have lots to learn about ireses. Thanks for sharing.
I would check the old rhizome to be sure there are so soft spots (rot) if not leave them attached. If you find soft spots you may be better off to separate them or cut off the soft places to keep the rot from spreading. To Debbie in upstate NY, if you are just planting now I would urge you to cover them with straw after the ground is frozen. They won't have time to put down good roots and may heave out of the ground. I usually cover my new plants only, after the first year they have enough roots to hold them in the soil. I have lost a lot of first year plants when I planted them late, but have had good luck with straw cover, just be sure to get the straw off in early spring. Marge
Thats great info about the old rhizomes. Things I never knes.
If I may add a comment here. I bought some new Irises last year and the good lady was selling the whole plant . After removing the offspring, I was left with all the mother rhizomes. Not wanting to just throw them away as they are named beauties, I tried planting them in pots . They sat in a corner of the yard existing only on rain. I now have lots of pots with new growths. Some have one or two and some have three. I will be planting them all out in a special plot and enjoying so many more than I had .
Jean.
I have a certain empathy for old bloomed out mothers, since there's days, frankly, when I feel like one myself. I have potted up healthy, solid old mothers with absolutely no hint of green on them, not a single bud, and been rewarded with new growth well over 75% of the time. You might not see a bloom from this growth for a good two years, but depending on how strongly you feel about the variety and how much space you have available for experiments, it's definitely worth the effort.
katie
I believe if they have a will to grow, and they have not rotted, I keep them until there is NO hope:)
I just discovered this thread. wish I had known. two years ago, I didn't get irises planted. still, following spring I planted anything tha still had a firm "mama" left. But I put them in the ground. about 35% lived and made new increases.
I could more easily have potted them!!
Wow, you learn something new everyday :)
Daylily, I had a "circle" of japanese iris in my front garden planted by the previous owner, and barely half bloomed. About 18 months ago I asked my husband to remove a "chunk" even though we couldn't see rhizomes at the base. Sure enough, last summer, all the remaining plants bloomed, and over in the corner by my japanese maple about 30 feet away, the "chunk" bloomed.
This spring I moved about a dozen plants that have grown but not bloomed, left by the previous owner (5 years ago), I'm pretty sure they're tall bearded, but only time will tell. They were against the house and had deep roots, but I don't believe they got enough sun.
